


Sawdust Cookies

by bitchslaplouis



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Baker Harry, Baking, F/M, Harry Cooks, Harry Styles & Louis Tomlinson Friendship, Liam Payne & Harry Styles Friendship, Niall Horan & Harry Styles Friendship, Roommates, Zayn Malik & Harry Styles Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 21:59:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchslaplouis/pseuds/bitchslaplouis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How bad can his baking really be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sawdust Cookies

Moving was one of those annoyingly exhausting tasks that noone enjoyed but everyone had to experience at least once. For you, however… Six times before your twenty second birthday seemed a bit excessive. You fed yourself the same bullshit lines about how it was a new start, things would be different here, maybe your new neighbors wouldn’t be cooking meth… By the smell of the apartment across the hall, that last one didn’t seem as hopeful as you would have liked. Still. The new place was small but clean, with no broken kitchen equipment and up to date paint and polished hardwood. It could be a lot worse. After getting all of the boxes into the apartment, you decided that the best way to deal with a new place was to test the shower. Unfortunately for you, the perfectly balanced water pressure and comforting steam was cut too short by a loud, insistent knocking on your front door. Already grumbling about neighbors wasn’t a great sign but what else could you do? Wrapping a towel around your body and pushing back your mess of hair, you headed for the front door.

“Hi!” On the other side stood a giant. Towering above you, all skinny limbs and wild hair, covered in tattoos and wearing a Green Bay Packers shirt, your neighbor beamed toothily and looked down on you, excitement written all over his face. That is, until he noticed that you were completely naked. His wide, moon-like face went bright red and his grin dropped in shock.

“Can I help you?” You asked, leaning on the open door. You weren’t easily shaken. You chose to answer the door in a towel and you weren’t letting his naivety challenge your surety.

“Uh… I’m, uh, I’m Harry?” He was trying to avoid staring at you, looking down at the floor, staring at his scuffed boots, checking out the ceiling…

“Are you sure?” You asked. You knew it was mean, but it was kind of fun to watch him flounder.

“What? Yes? Uh… I just… I wanted to give you these.” He held out a plate covered in gooey cookies. You instantly brightened, letting him into the kitchen and running back to change quickly. Emerging in Captain America boxers and a worn college sweatshirt, you smiled at the giant, standing uncomfortably in your tiny kitchen. He had set the cookies down on the counter and seemed unsure of what to do now. You gave him your name before picking up one of his delicious looking cookies.

“So where do you live?” You asked, trying to make up for your initial rudeness.

“Right across the hall,” He answered, smiling. You paused, the cookie halfway to your mouth, and remembered the smell you noticed when you first came in that reminded you of meth cooking. There was no way… Seeing him waiting for you to take a bite, you hesitantly bit down and almost gagged. This was the worst cookie you had ever had. It was salty and dry and crumbled in your mouth, tasting more of baking soda than anything else. But looking up at his eager face, you couldn’t tell him.

“They’re… good,” You said, dry swallowing the sawdust-like concoction.

“I used to be a baker,” Harry enthused, looking extremely proud of himself. You didn’t have to wonder why he wasn’t anymore. He wouldn’t turn away until you swallowed the entire cookie though, so you had to finish it. You’d rather eat the dustbunnies hanging out under the oven.

“Thanks for the cookies,” you said around the final mouthful, trying to decide how you were going to dispose of them properly. “I should really get to unpacking though.”

“Oh, my roommates and I can help!” He responded enthusiastically. You eyed him doubtfully. He seemed pretty strong, about seven inches taller than you with nice, well-formed biceps. You could really use the help. Your furniture was still mostly in the U-Haul parked behind your car and some of it was in Target boxes, waiting to be assembled.

“How many roommates?” You asked, letting a little doubt leak into your voice.

“Two. And the guys next door are awesome, too. We’re big, manly men.” You had to laugh at that, and seeing as you didn’t want to haul everything up to the fourth floor (without an elevator), you agreed and he ran off to track everyone down, looking gleeful. This was your opportunity to trash the cookies, lest he decide to try to make you eat another. But you didn’t have a trash can set up yet, and if you threw them out the window, he might find them on the sidewalk. You were still torn when another knock came.

“Hey, ‘m one of Harry’s roommates. Zayn.” The man on the other side of the door was Middle Eastern and easily one of the hottest people you’d ever seen. You’d kill for his eyelashes, which framed his big hazel eyes astoundingly well. Little bit of eyeliner and he’d murder with a glance. You introduced yourself and let him in. He had a toolbox with him, which he set on the counter next to the plate of cookies. “Let me guess, Harry’s?”

“Yes!” You responded. He laughed a little, nodding.

“I’ll get them out of here. Are they the sawdust ones or the toothpaste ones?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow at you and increasing his hotness by three hundred percent.

“Toothpaste ones?!” Your incredulousness was cut short by an energetic blonde bursting into your apartment, not bothering to knock, just bounding in and tackling Zayn against the wall.

“Harry’s cookies?” The blonde asked as Zayn laughed and mussed his hair. “’m Niall, by the way.” You gave him your name and reached out to shake his hand, his perfectly straight teeth stretched wide in an easy-going grin.

“How did you know?” You asked, unable to keep from smiling in the presence of his insane energy. His blonde hair was gelled up, seeming to be standing from his energy alone.

“I’ve had them all. My personal favorites are the rocks,” Niall admitted.

“Rocks?” You asked cautiously.

“Oh yeah, solid as rocks. Swear I’ve found gravel in ‘em too.” You couldn’t help but laugh at that, and Zayn and Niall joined in. That’s when Harry returned, bringing two more guys with him, one with short hair and a beard who held the door for the other two because Harry had to basically drag the last boy in, his long fringe hanging in his face to partially hide his grumpy expression.

“Why am I helping some random girl I don’t even—oh, hi,” the reluctant boy, shorter than Harry by at least half a foot, went a little red when he saw you standing there with Zayn and Niall.

“This is Louis,” the bearded man said, reaching to shake your hand, “and I’m Liam. We live across the hall and one to the left. I hear you need some help moving in?” 

Despite Louis’ reluctance and Zayn, Niall, and Louis’ slim builds, all of your furniture was moved up from the U-Haul before dinner. While you ordered in Thai food for everyone, the boys insisting that you didn’t need to do such a thing, Harry and Louis constructed your bookshelves, bickering fiercely between each other about proper methods and Liam and Zayn snuck cookies into their pockets, trying to reduce the size of the pile without drawing attention. Harry offered to go pick up dinner and took Niall with him, disappearing down the stairs with a wide grin on his face.

“Alright, how many can we get rid of without it seeming suspicious?” You asked, turning to Zayn.

“All of them,” Louis announced, standing the bookshelf upright.

“I dunno about that, mate.” Liam seemed a bit more cautious, assessing the mountain of cookies.

“Come on, lads, as much as we all love Harold, he is not all that bright. He’ll come back and see them all gone and be delighted that we love his baking that much.” Louis brushed his hands off on his jeans and threw the entire plate of cookies into the bag of cardboard and moving trash.

“Guess that’s that then,” you muttered, more than a little uncertain about it. But God, you did not want another particle of those cookies anywhere near your mouth so you were not going to argue.

Harry and Niall returned with dinner and Harry was just as delighted as Louis thought he’d be; he gushed all through dinner about how happy he was you liked his cookies because he used to be a baker, you know! After helping you heave your mattress on your bed and having another beer, the boys all left, leaving you with high hopes for this new home.

The next morning, you were enjoying a late breakfast when there was another knock on your door. Already used to the frequency of that sound, you thought nothing of yelling for the knocker to come on in. He did, bringing with him a frighteningly familiar smell.

“You enjoyed them so much yesterday, I figured I should make you some more!” Harry deposited yet another plate of your favorite cookies: sawdust. Zayn was with him, trying desperately to suppress him laughter at your thinly veiled horror. So thinly veiled, in fact, that Harry saw it. “What’s wrong?” He asked, his smile faltering,

“I was just… Uh…” Zayn was dying of amusement. You decided to give it back to him though. “I was just thinking, it isn’t quite fair that I get all of these and your roommates aren’t getting any!” Zayn’s jaw dropped and he gave you the purest expression of betrayal.

“You’re right! I’ve got to get to the grocery store now!” Harry ran out the door, yelling for Niall to grab his shoes and keys and yanking Zayn, horrified face and all, with him.


End file.
